NitroModels Extra 260
I finally maidened my Extra 260 this Sunday. I have been trying for about 2 months to get it in the air, every weekend. There has been lots of trouble getting the idle down on the Magnum 70 4-strk. It is my first 4 stroke, and I'm trying to master it still. So far I like the sound though.
The plane was pretty easy to build. It was mostly straight forward with a few duds in the design, one of which being the metal bar connecting the elevator halves. That was a pain to fit and set. I had to take a ton of balsa out of my horizontal stab. Having a 70 size engine on this plane made it extremely front heavy so I added about 10 ounces of lead to the back of the plane to finally balance it. I can't find the AUW, but I'm sure it's very heavy.
This Sundays, the skies were clear, and fields finally dry after a lot of rain for the last few weeks. I took off under full power in about 50 feet. Right when it lifted off the ground I was heaven. This plane flies very smooth and level. Just point it and shoot it. I took a few laps around the pattern, and tried a few rolls. The rolls are perfectly around the axis, it feels so sleek when it rolls. I've got my rates on extremely low with a huge expo, so I cant tell how fast it really rolls yet, but I know it will be pretty. Upon bringing it in for landing is when I was most surprised. This plane slows down very fast and will float along the runway like my J3 cub. It showed no stall tendencies at all. I was trying to get it to stall, and couldn't. I set it down and rolled about 15 feet before it stopped. Very slow and a soft. I can't wait to start trying some hovering and high rates. I don't know if my engine will be enough to hover this big bird, but I can still try.
Great plane, Nitromodels.